In the summer of 1945, on the cusp of victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Huang Yanpei, a veteran educator and politician, visited then Communist Party of China (CPC) leader Mao Zedong at his cave-dwelling in the revolutionary base Yan’an in Shaanxi Province.
Huang, then 67, was well-acquainted with China’s historical vicissitudes. Having witnessed the fall of dynasties and warlords, he worried deeply about power corruption. He asked Mao a question that still resonates today: Every regime rises vigorously but decays eventually. How will the CPC avoid this fate?
After giving it some thought, Mao replied: “We have found a new path, and we can break free from this cycle.” He further elaborated that it is essential to let the people supervise the government. Only by allowing the people to supervise the government can the government remain diligent and vigilant, and only when everyone takes responsibility will the system remain vibrant and enduring, he said.
More than 80 years on, this dialogue remains a political adage for China and its ruling party, and has laid the groundwork for the CPC’s people-centered governance.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the Party has sought out a path to resolve problems rooted in its long-term governance so as to avoid the historical cycle of rise and fall, and has built a set of effective systems for scrutinizing the exercise of power and for enforcing Party discipline and state laws.
President Xi Jinping, also General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), has on multiple occasions called for advancing rigorous Party self-governance. While addressing the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) in Beijing on January 12, Xi called for advancing full and rigorous Party self-governance with higher standards and more concrete measures, highlighting that the battle against corruption is a major struggle that the Party cannot afford to lose—and must never lose.
Ongoing effort
“The current anti-corruption situation remains grave and complex, and the task of eliminating the soil and conditions breeding corruption remains arduous,” Xi said at the CCDI meeting. He added that it is essential to maintain a firm stance “to leave corrupt officials with no place to hide.”
Xi pointed out that in 2025, the CPC Central Committee intensified efforts to improve Party conduct, uphold integrity and combat corruption, achieving notable results. Efforts were made to maintain a tough stance against corruption and eradicate its breeding grounds and conditions.
Official statistics from January to November 2025 show a resolute campaign to address misconduct and corruption affecting citizens’ daily lives. Authorities tackled 840,000 such cases, leading to disciplinary measures for 536,000 individuals. Of these, 20,000 cases were transferred to judicial authorities for prosecution. Notably, the campaign facilitated the recovery and return of over 66 billion yuan ($9.5 billion) in assets to affected citizens, directly remedying public grievances.
In the international arena, the fight against corruption has also delivered substantial results. The Sky Net 2025 operation, targeting fugitives and illicit assets abroad, successfully brought back 782 individuals and recovered more than 23.66 billion yuan ($3 billion) in stolen funds during the same 11-month period. This underscores China’s commitment to comprehensive, cross-border anti-corruption efforts.
In late 2025, the CCDI and the National Supervisory Commission disclosed several typical cases involving violations of the central Party leadership’s eight-point decision on improving work conduct—a set of rules adopted in December 2012 by the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee to cut bureaucracy, curb extravagance and maintain close ties with the people.
The rules emphasize practical conduct, including improving investigation and research, streamlining meetings and documents, standardizing official travel and practicing diligence and frugality.
One recent case of violation involved Zhao Yong, former head of the master planning department at the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources. Despite still being within a probationary period following a prior Party disciplinary sanction, Zhao attended two banquets arranged by a private entrepreneur in November 2024 and February 2025.
The meals, held in the company’s internal cafeteria and featuring high-end alcohol paid for by the host, violated regulations against accepting extravagant hospitality. During these events, Zhao also improperly accepted monetary gifts from the entrepreneur.
As a consequence of these repeated violations, Zhao was given a severe intra-Party warning and was removed from his post, underlining the consistent enforcement of discipline even for those already under supervision.
In another example, Ye Hanbing, former Vice Governor of the People’s Government of Sichuan Province and former director of the provincial public security department, engaged in a prolonged pattern of misconduct from 2018 to 2025. He repeatedly accepted banquets arranged by private business owners, which included high-end alcohol, frequently dined and drank at private clubs and took several out-of-town trips funded by these individuals. What’s more, despite already being allocated one official government vehicle, he improperly used two additional cars for an extended period. Ye has been expelled from the CPC and dismissed from public office. His case, involving illicit gains, has been transferred to procuratorial authorities for legal examination and prosecution.
The fight against corruption continues unabated in 2026. On January 24, the CPC Central Committee announced it will conduct an investigation into two senior military officials, Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, suspected of serious disciplinary and legal violations.
Zhang is a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice chairman of the CMC. Liu, too, is a member of the CMC as well as chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department.
“The investigation is a major outcome of the anti-corruption fight and an important demonstration of the determination and strength of the Party and the military,” read an editorial published in PLA Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), on January 25. The article further stated that the inquiry carries great importance for winning this “tough, protracted and all-out battle in the military.”
Xi has urged more efforts to confine power to an institutional cage in a more well-conceived and effective manner, and press ahead with the anti-corruption fight with a clearer vision and stronger resolve, thus providing a strong guarantee for achieving the goals and tasks of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period.
The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, held in Beijing last October 20-23, adopted the Recommendations of the CPC Central Committee for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development. The document outlines China’s policy priorities and developmental goals for the 2026-30 period. Notably, it stresses that “the fight against corruption is always ongoing and requires us to remain sober-minded and steadfast.” Coordinated measures must be implemented to ensure that officials do not have the audacity, opportunity or desire to commit corruption. This demonstrates a firm resolve to carry on the tough battle, to foster a political ecosystem of integrity.
Stressing the need to stay attuned to new trends and features of corruption, Xi urged more efforts to innovate methods and approaches, promptly detect and accurately identify corrupt practices, and effectively address all forms of corruption, so as to continuously enhance the penetrating power of anti-corruption efforts.
Effective measures
Through the concerted efforts of Party committees, governments, discipline inspection commissions and supervisory agencies at all levels, progress has been made in improving Party conduct and combating corruption.
Inspection teams directly dispatched by the CPC Central Committee, as well as the committees of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, play a pivotal role in enforcing Party discipline and fighting corruption. They conduct on-site visits, performing in-depth investigations through methods such as reviewing large volumes of documents, conducting extensive individual interviews and receiving public petitions and reports.
Moreover, these systemic efforts are further reinforced by improving institutions. This is exemplified by key legal and regulatory updates. The amended Supervision Law and its implementing regulations were enacted on June 1, 2025. As the country’s primary legislation for combating corruption, they granted greater authority to supervisory bodies and streamlined procedures to address emerging challenges in the anti-corruption fight.
Last May, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the highest state administrative organ, issued a revised version of the Regulations on Practicing Thrift and Opposing Waste in Party and Government Organs, encouraging all localities and departments to implement the measures faithfully. For instance, the regulations stipulate that all government bodies must streamline meetings and strictly adhere to prescribed standards for conference fees.
Complementing these rules, Party organizations at all levels hold regular study sessions. The goal is to reinforce discipline through constant education, making integrity the expected norm and cultivating an institutional culture where corruption becomes unthinkable.
“History and present reality have proven, time and again, a simple truth: Only by making our Party stronger and more resilient can it navigate the world’s turbulent waves and the massive domestic tasks of reform, development and stability with unshakable steadiness,” Wu Tao, Director of the Grassroots CPC Development Research Center of China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong, told newspaper Wenhui Daily. –The Daily Mail-Beijing Review news exchange item
